A shirt for every race

 

Eight shirts and eight races. The picture proves it.. I have run the Mercedes Half Marathon each of the events eight years.  Someday I may have one of those T-shirt quilts made from these race shirts ... but not yet... maybe when I get 10!!

The race is almost here... As I waited at the starting line last year with my sister and friend, I was already looking forward to when I would be at that line in 2010. I hoped that my body would be repaired and trained for the race. Well, as I sit here and type this out, I wonder if I have met my expectations.. I have some aches and I am not as fast as I have been... but I am ready. I am ready to put it on the line and go beyond what I think I can do and "run the race that is set before me."

I look forward to traveling to Birmingham on the day before the race and spending time with my sister and to do some recording for my pre/post race podcast. Yep, it is almost here.... and well.. I can't wait!!!!!

My finishing info for all eight races:

2002: 1:53:45 @ 8:41; 40th age grp (40-44) First ever Half Marathon and first race since 1979
2003: 1:41:46 @ 7:46; 95th age grp
2004: 1:40:21 @ 7:40; 29th age grp
2005: 1:39:33 @ 7:36; 19th age grp
2006: 1:35:49 @ 7:18; 7th age grp (45-49)
2007: 1:29:53 @ 6:51; 4th age grp
2008: 1:59:55 @ 9:10; 73rd age grp (injury; ran with sister)
2009: 1:51:25@ 8:31; 62nd age grp (ran with sister to set a PR for her)

A nice present today

I had a feeling that this run was going to be good.. I felt rested and strong today.. even though I ran a pretty hard 5 mile race pace yesterday.. at an average of 7:06 /mi. 

I got to run with my Saturday running partner (James) today.. that is always good.. James and I have a very similar training pace and we always complement and push each other during our long runs.  He is having a little bit of an issue with one of his knees so he couldn't push the pace hard that last mile but other than that he kept us both pressing the pace.

avg paced was 7:49 - Mile splits: 8:55; 9:00; 8:38; 7:55; 7:52; 8:01; 7:42; 7:50; 7:37; 7:27; 7:24; 7:24; 7:03; 7:13; 7:13

Like Opening up Presents!

Well, as you know if you have been reading this blog any at all, I am using the Hal Higdon Half Marathon Advanced plan. http://www.halhigdon.com/halfmarathon/adv.htm  

One thing that stands out with this training plan is that I don't feel as many aches and pains as I have with previous workout plans. This is a welcome relief.. plan fact is that I am quickly approaching 50 and I need to adjust my training to meet the thresholds of my body. 

Now, something has happened in the past few weeks that is making this training plan more and more exciting. The plan started off with lots of short distance intervals (1/4 mile and a couple of 1/2 mile days) and short 3 mile recovery runs between the interval, 30 min tempo and long runs on Saturday. 

Well, for the past couple of weeks the intervals have elevated to 1 mile, the Tempo runs are longer and then there are the "Race Pace" runs. These race pace runs are now 5 miles (5 miles at the pace I plan to run in the half marathon).

It's getting exciting to open up these speed training "presents" to see what the results of my training has produced. I can feel my body starting to peak as the day of the race draws near. I have the rest of this week and next week that has some pretty demanding training sessions... but then the week of the race I just cruise thru with some less demanding sessions that should have me a lean, mean half marathon running machine!!

I think it's working.. but the proof will be in the race!

Saturday Loooooooong Run..

Well.. long for me anyway... 

The ol higdon plan calls for a 2 hour run today.. just two hours of running.. no special equipment or instructions needed. On most Saturday's I have a training partner, but he was a no show today (as I have been for him before).. So I got myself out of the warm car and got after it.. one minute at a time... :-)

The weather was not to bad.. around 44 degrees but it was blustery w/ foggy overcast skies.. of course when I started it was dark .. I mean.. after all I am the earlymorningcruzin guy so I have to maintain my image..

The run was smooth and to be honest.. it went by very fast.. doing the recording really makes the time fly. Even though there is no interaction with the person(s) listening, it really is like I am carrying on a conversation with you.. but it looks like I am talking to myself. ;-)  Total time on the road was 2:00 hours; 14.51miles.. that works out to 8:16 /mi pace.. I had a couple sub 8:00 miles thrown in there around the middle of the run.. but slowed myself up so I wouldn't be hurting toward the end. Well... I hurt anyway. I haven't run that long in a while.. I have 2 more Saturday runs before the Mercedes Half and they are all 2 hr runs. It will be interesting to see if the third one is easier than this one was today.

I attempted to record a podcast episode, but that didn't quite workout due to the wind. Even with the windscreen foam on the mic, the wind at times was just too much for the recording .. So I will just plan to redu during my Sunday morning easy run... That is if rain doesn' halt that..

Another good workout.. I need all of them I can get!

Today's training run was a 55 minute tempo run. A tempo run as defined by the Hal Higdon training plan is as follows:

A Tempo Run of 40 to 60 minutes would begin with 10-20 minutes easy running, build to 20-30 minutes near the middle, then 5-10 minutes easy toward the end. The pace buildup should be gradual, not sudden, with peak speed coming about two-thirds into the workout. Hold that peak only for a minute or two.

This is a bit different from the way I have run Tempo runs in the past.  Other training plans say a tempo run would start the same as defined above but after the warm-up the Tempo run would call you to increase your speed to a specified pace range. Example would be to run the tempo miles at 30 seconds per mile slower than your 5K time.

For the run today I ran a 15 minute warm up followed by the followed by the following mile times: 7:34; 7:17; 7:11; 7:09 and I peaked at 6:57.. this was then followed up by a 10 min cool down.

The tempo miles felt good and relaxed... I like feeling that you get after a good quality training run.. ;-)

Today's workout

Had a good workout today! Needed a good workout today.  After consulting with a coach that I follow on Twitter  (speedysasquatch), I was cleared to proceed with some speed training even though I had just run a half marathon two days ago.

The workout:  1 mi warm-up; 4 x 1 mile intervals with a 3 min rest interval between sets; 1 mi cool down.

The results: 6:18; 6:26; 6:20; 6:43

I was more than pleased that the issues I had with my legs on race day were not replicated during the intervals.  I did one thing I did today that is rare for me.. I didn't look at my  GPS watch while I was running the intervals.. normally I will grab glances to see what my pace is during the intervals.. today I concentrated on feel and guts. I have to admit that they were pretty tough, mostly because I haven't done this many 1 mile intervals in a couple of years. I think the BEST preparation training run for the 1/2 marathon is 1 mile intervals.. so although the Higdon plan called for 1/2 mile intervals I substituted.. I will have this same workout next Monday.. will I improve.. we'll see!

Tomorrow.. recovery 3 miler... Ahhhhhh!

How do I write this?

Well.. I guess the first thing I should say, is that it DID NOT rain at the Auburn Half Marathon. That was good... actually, it was close to perfect weather.. I say "close" because it was windy.. breezy.. blustery.. It's said that a tail wind doesn't aide you near as much as a head wind hurts you. I believe that .. Another good thing for the race was that my Dad was at the finish line of the race. Well.. to say that was "good" is not saying it right.. it was GREAT.. I knew he would be there today and that helped me that final 1/2 mile... when it hurt so much.

I started the race in the back of the pack but within the first two miles had made my way up to a group that I would be around for the next few miles. I knew pretty soon that this was going to be a tough race. The bulk of my daily training runs are on relatively flat roads.  This race was on roads of rolling hills.. with the exception of about 3 or so miles.. it was all rolling hills. The hardest point of the race for me was mile seven. I was really struggling and my mile split shows it (8:03). I refused to let my mind tell me to purposely slow down and catch my second wind, instead I actually pushed myself a little harder on the next mile and that felt good.

The last four miles were the same rolling hills that we faced on the way "out"... with the wind at my face pretty much the whole way..  I ran a good last mile and that was good.. I think I really wanted to race to be over! :-)

splits 7:26; 7:19; 7:11; 7:32; 8:01; 7:25; 8:03; 7:42; 7:58; 8:14; 8:14; 7:46

A wrap-up of thoughts

My Mind:
Acceptance of where I am mentally.
This race was not a goal race. That being said I still want to do my best. My problem is not doing my best it is not finishing with my best time. I know it isn't logical to expect that I will finish every race with a PR but I would like to see improvement. This is just something I have to deal with in my own mind.

My body:
Acceptance of my physical limits.
My body just isn't as young it was in 2007, this was the year when I had my best running and racing year.  However,  I am finding it very hard to come to the realization of an aging body. This struggle is not my own, but one that I am sure that is shared by many runners of my age. I am four months away from my 50th birthday and it is hard to accept that my best years are behind me

My Training:
Am I on the right training plan?
I have to finish the plan. The plan is the Hal Higdon 1/2 marathon Advanced plan. I am hoping that the plan will peak at the time is it supposed to, and I will have a breakout run at next months Mercedes half!!!

I hope that all this isn't received as complaining.. but just me being real with whoever will be reading this...